Jean Baptiste Massillon

Jean-Baptiste Massillon, Cong. Orat. (24 June 1663, Hyères – 28 September 1742, Beauregard-l'Évêque), was a French Catholic bishop and famous preacher, who served as Bishop of Clermont from 1717 until his death.

Biography

Early years

Massillon was born at Hyères in Provence where his father was a royal notary. At the age of eighteen he joined the French Oratory and taught for a time in the colleges of his congregation at Pézenas, and Montbrison and at the Seminary of Vienne. On the death of Henri de Villars, Archbishop of Vienne, in 1693, he was commissioned to deliver a funeral oration, and this was the beginning of his fame. In obedience to Cardinal de Noailles, Archbishop of Paris, he left the Trappist Abbey of Sept-Fons, to which he had retired, and settled in Paris, where he was placed at the head of the famous Oratorian Seminary of Saint Magloire.

Career

Massillon soon gained a wide reputation as a preacher and was selected to be the Advent preacher at the court of Versailles in 1699. He was made Bishop of Clermont in 1717, and two years later was elected a member of the Académie française. The last years of his life were spent in the faithful discharge of his episcopal duties; his death took place at Clermont on September 18, 1742. Massillon enjoyed in the 18th century a reputation equal to that of Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet and of Louis Bourdaloue, and was much praised for his eloquence by Voltaire, D'Alembert and kindred spirits among the Encyclopaedists.

Massillon, Ohio

Massillon is a city in Stark County in the U.S. state of Ohio, approximately 8 miles (13 km) west of Canton, 20 miles (32 km) south of Akron, and 50 miles (80 km) south of Cleveland. The population was 32,149 at the 2010 census, which makes it the 44th largest city in Ohio.

Massillon is the second largest incorporated area within the Canton-Massillon, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the metropolitan area had a population of 404,422 and includes all of Stark and Carroll counties.

The city's incorporated area primarily resides in the western half of Perry Township, with portions extending north into Jackson Township, west into Tuscarawas Township, and south into Bethlehem Township. The village of Navarre borders the city to the south.

History

Port of Massillon

The original settlement of Kendal was founded in 1812 by Thomas Rotch, a Quaker originally of New Bedford, Massachusetts, and Hartford, Connecticut. James Duncan of New Hampshire first settled in Kendal before recording the plot for Massillon in December 6, 1826. Duncan, known as the city's founder, named the town after Jean Baptiste Massillon, a French Catholic bishop, at the request of his wife. The town plat was established along the east bank of the Tuscarawas River, which was the surveyed route for the Ohio and Erie Canal being constructed to connect Lake Erie with the Ohio River. The canal section spanning from Cleveland to Massillon was completed in 1828. Massillon quickly became a major port town along the canal route, known as the Port of Massillon, following the canal's completion in the 1832. The first telegraph lines would reach Massillon in 1847, and the Ohio & Pennsylvania Railroad would extend its rails to Massillon in 1852. Massillon incorporated as a village in 1853. In 1868, Massillon incorporated as a city when the populated reached 5,000.